the Board

Prisna Nuengsigkapian, Board of Directors

Prisna began firedancing in 1999 and actively performed the fire and flow arts from 2000-2009 in the United States and across the world as a solo artist, and in circus troupes and professional entertainment companies for stage shows, corporate functions, art and music festivals, and rock bands. Her unique style has influenced numerous poi dancers, several of whom have surpassed any of her personal accomplishments, such as pioneering premier poi schools, winning international competitions and performing in Cirque du Soleil. Since 2005, she has been an organizer and workshop instructor for Firedrums – the largest US spinning arts gathering, and is currently on it Board of Advisors. A co-founder of Flowtoys, a California-based company that produces high quality illuminated props for flow artists, Prisna also pioneered the internationally popular flow-wand levitation stick as a dance and flow prop.

In her pre-flow arts life, Prisna graduated with honors in Environmental Science from Brown University and worked in the international environment and sustainable development field for over 7 years. She edited publications updating decision makers on environmental news and policies, provided coverage of United Nations negotiations, as well as contributed as a writer and editor to publications by the UN Environment Programme.

Lily Rasel, Board of Directors

After finishing up her studies of Earth Science at Boston University, Lily made her first trip across the country to attend Burning Man in 2006. A zombie dance troupe in Victorian garb captured her heart, and she never turned back. After a brief stint working for the EPA in environmental remediation, followed by a tattoo apprenticeship in Maui, Lily made her way to San Francisco to be closer to her new community.In late 2007, Lily jumped on an office assistant position at Burning Man HQ and spent about 2.5 years providing general administrative and project support to the Burning Man office. In 2010, after working closely for several years with the Government Relations and Legal Affairs department, she decided to pursue a career in law. With the support of the Burning Man community, she is currently attending Berkeley Law, and continuing to work part-time at BMHQ as Legal Research Associate.

Lily loves to spin fire (contact staff!) and attend fire festivals near and far such as FireDrums, Japan Fire Festival, and more. She loves writing poetry, riding horses, singing jazz, dressing up in fancy garb, and visiting Japan whenever possible. Someday she hopes to live in a treehouse mansion in the woods near her horse farm in Singapore, while working in international project finance and writing creative nonfiction novels.

Sean von Stade, Board of Directors

Sean was first inspired to flow at age 11, while watching a movie in which the hero swung a sword in an infinite “figure-8”. He discovered the flow arts in 1996 while attending Northeastern University, and in 1997 was producing light-up poi in Australia before LEDs were ubiquitous. Following several years of prototyping flow props for himself and his friends, Sean founded Flowtoys to produce illuminated props for flow artists in 2004. Since 2005, Sean has been an organizer and workshop instructor for Firedrums – the largest US flow arts gathering.

“I have always been drawn to the fluid movement of inspired object manipulation and dance, and to the sorts of people who tend to pursue it. They are a disproportionately great group of people, with open minds and open hearts, not afraid to look foolish, keen to look awesome, and to share, to teach and to learn. I have dedicated my life’s work to enabling people to find their flow in movement, with props, and it has made life awesome for me, and everyone I know.

Since 1998 I have traveled the world as a flow-arts performer, meeting others and finding communities everywhere. Even before the proliferation of videos on the Internet, this artform had evolved globally. It is universal, it is ancient, it is the future, and its growth is my passion.”

3 Comments

I’d be willing to work with the board. 25+ years in flow arts. I made a fundamental change to a 3000 year old prop and it has spread throughout the world by word-of-mouth. I’ve taught ballistic juggling and sticks to tens of thousands. I have devoted my life to promoting flow arts since before it was ever called “flow arts”.